Crescent Point Takes $2 Billion Writedown Amid Oil Swings

Mar 7, 2019

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(Bloomberg) -- Crescent Point Energy Corp., a Canadian oil producer focused on Saskatchewan, wrote down the value of its assets by C$2.73 billion ($2 billion) to account for higher financing costs amid volatile crude prices.

The after-tax writedown reflects the fair value of the company’s asset base “in the current commodity price and macro-economic environment,” Calgary-based Crescent Point said Thursday in an investor presentation. The charge doesn’t affect the amount of credit available to the company or its adjusted funds flow, and it isn’t related to the performance of the assets, the driller said Thursday in a separate statement.

Chief Executive Officer Craig Bryksa, who took the helm on a permanent basis in September, has been cutting costs and refocusing Crescent Point on its core operating areas after the company fended off an activist investor. Crescent Point said it started marketing some conventional holdings in southeast Saskatchewan and some infrastructure assets for sale.

Crescent Point has slid 1.9 percent this year, compared with a 15 percent gain for the S&P/TSX Energy Index. The driller’s shares were down 3 cents to C$4.05 at 9:40 a.m. in Toronto. Western Canada Select crude prices have rebounded after plummeting late last year amid pipeline bottlenecks.

(Adds share price in fourth paragraph.)

To contact the reporter on this story: Kevin Orland in Calgary at korland@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Simon Casey at scasey4@bloomberg.net, Christine Buurma, Joe Carroll

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